Women Still Face the "Slut" Label Over Casual Sex

Well, this sucks: A new study by University of Michigan psychologists found that women still face a serious social stigma when it comes to casual sex.

The study revolved around four different experiments designed to measure attitudes toward casual sex. Participants were first asked to read a short story about casual sex. In one story, a man approached a woman and in the second, a woman approached a man. Afterward, they filled out a survey about how they perceived the characters in the story.

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The results? Not good. The women who asked for sex "were viewed as more promiscuous, less intelligent, less mentally healthy, less competent, and more risky than men who accepted the same offer."

In another experiment, volunteers were asked if they'd agree to a hypothetical casual sex situation. The women, by large, said no because they didn't want to be labeled as a slut.

Will we ever stop labeling each other over sexual preferences? It's looking like it's still a long way off—even though we know casual sex can be good for you, under the right circumstances.